Space for the 1%

“Welcome to the world’s largest ever gathering of future astronauts”: Jon Ronson is ready for blast-off. Is Richard Branson? The idea of space as a playground for the rich is a rather dispiriting one, and Ronson softly skewers the self-importance of some potential ‘astronauts’ (for whom space travel is a sort of ultimate confirmation of their inherent Nietzschean superiority) and the vague, still rather unconfirmed nature of the flights themselves. If and when Virgin Galactic does finally blast off, we can expect a rolling media circus around each and every celebrity participant, Big Brother in Space, supermarket tabloid hysteria, with a ghoulish, unspoken schadenfreude of potential tragedy lingering in everyone’s minds. As Branson notes, ‘Nasa has lost about 3% of everyone who’s gone into space, and re-entry has been their biggest problem. For a government-owned company, you can just about get away with losing 3% of your clients. For a private company you can’t really lose anybody.’ Private space ventures are very much on the edge of a great unknown. The rest of us will just stick to our vintage technology obsession: DIY drop tank spaceship and a fine collection of aviation and space-themed flickr pics.